


Saving One Little Girl

by RayeOfSunshine



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Chimera Nina, Gen, Maes Hughes Lives, Nina Tucker Lives, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Series Rewrite, Tags Contain Spoilers, okay that's a lie, some people die
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2017-04-26
Packaged: 2018-09-09 01:13:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8869999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RayeOfSunshine/pseuds/RayeOfSunshine
Summary: The day the Elric brothers realized what Tucker had done to his daughter would forever haunt them. But that doesn't mean they won't find a way to help her.A total series rewrite where Nina lives starting from episode 4 of brotherhood.





	1. One Man's Sins

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GhostiesandGhoulies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostiesandGhoulies/gifts).



The house was quiet, though it was not in a peaceful and restful manner, but the unnerving kind of quiet where everything felt off in some way. The absence of Nina and Alexander was strange, as usually the little girl and her dog jumped at them the minute they walked through the door. The brothers searched the house, calling for Tucker and Nina, finding each room empty. That was, until they reached Mr. Tucker’s lab.

They entered the room to find it strikingly dark, the only light coming from the hall just outside. The alchemist’s glasses glinted in dim lighting. 

“Yes, I did it boys. I finally did it - a chimera that understands human speech,” Tucker greeted in a surprisingly eerie way. It almost seemed as though the man was detached from himself, if his odd tones were any indication.

“Here, let me show you,” he continued, and crouched to meet the chimera’s eye. “Listen to me, that person there, that’s Edward.”

“That person Ed-ward,” the chimera repeated back to him.

“Yes! That’s very good, well done!” Tucker praised it, unmistakably proud of his creation.

“That’s amazing, it can actually talk!” Ed was in awe, he had never heard of something like this before.

Tucker laughed, it was a reedy sounding thing, weak and desperate. “Now I don’t have to worry about losing my certification.”

Ed crouched down to get a closer look at the chimera, amazed. It turned to him and repeated “That person Ed-ward, that person Ed-ward, that person Ed-ward...” Then it said something that shook him to his core.

“Big bro-ther Ed.”

Shock, terror, despair, horror, rage – the emotions hit him so suddenly and at that moment Edward couldn’t identify exactly what it was that he felt; but he knew that somewhere in that chimera was little Nina Tucker.

“Mr. Tucker, when did you first get your State certification?” Edward asked with a deadly calm.

“Let’s see, it was two years ago,” Tucker replied, sounding entirely unbothered.

“When did your wife leave you?” Ed continued on, voice still eerily collected.

“That was two years ago too,” one could almost hear a hint of sadness in Tucker’s words.

“I just have one more question for you, Nina and Alexander,” his voice became a deadly sharp instrument; clearly portraying the inner rage he was only just suppressing. “Where are they?”

Alphonse gasped with sudden realization.

Tucker cursed, “Damn brat, figuring it out so quickly.”

Edward lunged, pinning the man to the wall.

“Brother!” Alphonse exclaimed.

“Oh yeah I figured it out. You did it again! Two years ago it was your wife; this time you used your own daughter and her dog to transmute a talking chimera!” Ed accused furiously. “You can only do so much with animals after all, it’s much easier when you start with a human - isn’t that right!”

Tucker smiled wide and hateful, “I don’t see what you’re so upset about! This is how we progress; human experimentation is a necessary step. I would think a scientist should understand-”

“SHUT UP!” Edward cut him off, “do you really think you can get away with this!? Messing around with someone’s life like that - your own daughter!”

“Someone’s life you say?” Tucker laughed, his words tinged with a manic edge, “You’d know all about that, wouldn’t you. Look at you, Fullmetal Alchemist; look at your leg, your arm, your brother! Those things are also the result of messing around with somebody’s life aren’t they!?”

“Shut up!” Edward yelled once more as he punched the man in the face.

Tucker laughed again. It was clear how unhinged he had become as he declared: “We are the same! We’re the same, you’re just like me!”

“We’re not!” Edwards fervently denied.

Regardless, Tucker was undeterred from his raving, “Oh but yes we are! The opportunity was right in front of us and we just took it! We had to even though we knew it was against the rules!”

“NO!” Edward denied once more, horrified by the words that spilled unbidden from the man’s mouth. He began pummeling him repeatedly.

“Not me. Alchemists. Don’t. Do. That.” Each word was punctuated by a hard punch.

 _“I’m not, I’M NOT!”_ The true horror of the situation gripped Edward in a vice hold.

Shou Tucker had truly believed that what he had done was necessary. And worse yet, he had somehow thought that Edward would agree with him.

“Brother,” Alphonse grabbed Edward by the arm, stopping his assault, “you can’t keep this up, he’ll die.”

However it was not Alphonse’s words that stopped him. It was the warped words of poor, sweet, Nina.

“Ed-ward help? I hurt, why dad-dy?”

Edward sunk to the ground, his anger temporarily fading from the forefront of his mind. “Don’t you worry Nina, your big brothers are going to get you help,” he said as he held her close. 

Ed took a deep breath and pulled back, “Nina I need you to stay here for a little bit.” He looked to his brother with authority, “Al, I’ve got a plan but I need you to help me move Tucker. We’re not going to leave him here with Nina while I get things set up.” 

Together the boys grabbed Tucker and forced him out of the lab; quickly finding an empty room and alchemically sealing it shut. Ed led them back the lab where he corralled Nina to a little corner out of the way and started to assemble the ingredients that made up a human body. He also grabbed up a half dead looking dog chimera that matched Nina’s new coloring almost exactly. Once he had gathered his ingredients, he started to draw out a transmutation circle on the floor of the lab. 

Finally, Alphonse spoke up, “Brother, what are you planning to do with… all of this?” He gestured vaguely to the circle which bore an eerie resemblance to the one they had drawn the night they had made their greatest mistake. 

Ed continued working on the circle as he explained, “I’m taking this chimera and I’m making it look like Nina, or at least how Nina looks now.” He paused with a small frown at that. His golden gaze flickered over to the girl turned chimera absently before he resumed working, “I figured that if you want to make something look human then using the elemental ingredients would help - right? I mean, I scaled it down to match a four year old rather than an adult, but it should still work. It should be easier actually, since I can leave the soul stuff out of the equation altogether because we don’t really don’t need it.” He lowered his voice then, “I know I don’t really need the circle but this is complex stuff and with Nina’s safety on the line here, I want to be able to see my work so I can make sure I’m not going to mess anything up.” 

“Oh!” Al exclaimed in understanding. “Then let me look over it too, that way we’ll be doubly sure not to miss something.” 

With the combined effort of the Elric brothers, the transmutation worked; before them lay a rather convincing replica of little Nina’s new chimera form. The stress induced by the transmutation meant that the other dog chimera was dead too, which the boys found to be a bit of a relief. They both shared the sentiment that at least this way they wouldn’t have to kill it themselves. 

Edwards cleared away the transmutation circle and then dusted himself off and stood, “Al, I need you to lie down and take off your chest plate for a minute, I’m modifying your armor so we can hide Nina in the chest cavity and smuggle her out once the military gets here.” He began rooting around the room as he spoke. “I need to call them in so they can deal with Tucker... but they’ll be suspicious if you’re already gone when they get here.” 

“That makes sense,” Alphonse agreed, “but why do I need to be on the ground?” 

“I just figured it would be easier to get Nina in that way.” 

Alphonse removed the chest plate and dutifully lay down on the floor as his brother had asked, watching as his sibling took an unused cage from one corner. He then used it to transmute a sort of round bottomed shelf inside of him just above his legs. 

“Shit,” Edward cursed, “that’s not gonna be comfy, I’m going to get her a little blanket or something. You can sit up for a minute; I’ll be right back.” He headed for the door, “Do you think you can figure out a way to get her to stay quiet for when we sneak her out of here?” 

“Sure thing brother,” Alphonse called as Edward ran off into another section of the house. He sat up and turned to Nina, “Hey Nina, we’re going to play a game okay?” 

“We play?” Nina seemed to perk up a bit at the idea of playing though it was hard to tell for sure. 

“Uh-huh, it’s a sneaking game. Ed and I are going to hide you and you have to stay really quiet and really still until we tell you, okay?” Alphonse hoped his quickly hatched plan would work. They hadn’t played games like this with Nina before and he wasn’t sure she would understand it, what with Alexander’s more simplistic mind influencing her. 

“A sneak-y game? I be quiet, be still? Ye-s, play game!” Nina bobbed her head up and down; excited at the prospect of this new game they were playing. 

Edward skidded back into the room holding a small fuzzy blanket. “Okay! Lay back down Al and we’ll get Nina in there!” 

“Ye-s play game!” Nina agreed her tail wagging excitedly. 

Edward looked to Al, confused. 

“Oh, um, we’re playing a sneaking game, right Ed? We’re going to hide Nina, and if she’s very quiet and very still until we tell her the games done then she wins - right?” Alphonse said as a way to explain his plan for getting the girl out of the house, without alerting Nina of how dangerous this was. Luckily, his sibling caught on fast. 

“Yeah,” Edward agreed, “and if she wins we’ll get her a pretty ribbon or a dolly, how does that sound?” 

“Ye-s!” Nina agreed readily. 

The little girl managed not to squirm too much as the golden blonde helped her climb into Alphonse’s chest cavity. When he had gotten her and her blanket situated, Edward helped his brother up carefully to keep Nina from falling out. Once this was accomplished, Edward picked up the chest plate. 

“Okay Nina,” Edward said to her, “we’re starting the game now - so remember you have to very, very, quiet and very, very, still until we tell you, okay?” 

“Ye-s, I be qui-et, I be still,” Nina promised, trying her best to whisper. 

“Good girl,” Edward said as he put the chest plate back in place. He then looked up at his brother, “Alright Al, I’m going to call Mustang. I need you to go sit in the front room and try to look as traumatized as you can.” 

“It won’t be very hard,” was Alphonse’s murmured admission as he made his way from the lab. 

Edward picked up the nearest phone and told the operator that he needed to be connected to Colonel Mustang’s office urgently; when he heard someone pick up, he didn’t even let them finish their acknowledgement. 

“Tell Mustang to get his ass to Shou Tucker’s house, we have a situation and it needs to be dealt with. _Immediately_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to take a moment and thank my beta-reader GhostiesandGhoulies because I know she's cried over every chapter I've sent her so far.


	2. You Must Never Stop Fighting

Mustang wasn’t entirely sure what he had been expecting when he arrived at the Tucker household, but it certainly hadn’t been the sight of Alphonse sitting in the front room with an air of someone who had seen unspeakable things and Edward nowhere to be seen.

Alphonse didn’t bother to greet Mustang, he just gestured to hall that led to his brother. “Brother is down that hallway, he-he’ll explain it to you,” came his quiet voice.

How strange it was for him to see this boy, whom was usually so upbeat and happy despite his circumstances, so solemn and grim. Mustang nodded and walked deeper into the house along the hall Alphonse had indicated. He found Edward sitting in front of what might have once been a door but was now nothing more than an alchemically sealed wall.

He took the moment to observe the golden blonde, noting a similar kind of solemnity about him. “Your brother said you would have an explanation,” Mustang said gruffly.

His brightly colored eyes flickered up to him for but a moment before going back to the floor, “Yeah...”

The raven haired male crossed his arms, “Considering your phone call, it had better be a damn good one, Fullmetal.”

Ed rose from the floor stiffly, “Follow me. It’ll be easier to just show you.” He led Mustang down to Tuckers lab, shoulders slumped the whole way.

The entire establishment seemed to change as they made their way down, as though any light had been forcibly sucked from the area. The basement was cool and dank, the air saturated with the distinctive energy from transmutations. The Colonel would be lying to say it didn’t unsettle him.

There, lying on the floor in the center of the room was some kind of chimera. A closer look at the thing quickly revealed that the creature was dead.

Holding the knowledge that Shou Tucker was named the Sewing Life Alchemist, the situation was a far cry from anything serious or unusual. The man dealt with chimeras all the time as they were his specialty. Something like this could hardly warrant a call, let alone an urgent demand for his presence.

Edward spoke up before Mustang could voice his indignant confusion, “That, is the body of Nina Tucker, he used her to make another talking chimera.”

The words were tinged with a dark anger that obviously burned within the teen. He looked again to the deceased creature that lay in a heap on the floor, feeling a bit winded. The familiar feeling of disgust rose within him, as it usually did with such cases. People could truly be cruel sometimes.

“He used his wife for the first one,” Ed continued. “He’ll be more than happy to tell you for himself if you don’t believe me; I couldn’t get him to shut up about it when I sealed him in that room back there.”

Mustang looked away from the thing – body, because that’s what it was, wasn’t it? The body of a dead little girl, one not much older than his own goddaughter that he adored in secret to avoid her father’s gushing – on the floor, and back to the boy at his side and was suddenly filled with a sick dread. How had she died? He had never before thought of Edward as someone who could take the life of an innocent, but he might be one to put another creature out of its misery. He didn’t want to even think of it, but the thought had presented itself and refused to be batted away; instead it roared in the front of his mind.

He turned to Edward, already steeling himself for the answer he might receive. “Would you care to explain how exactly the young Miss Tucker died, Fullmetal?”

“I, well, we don’t actually know,” Edward admitted with a wavering voice, not meeting Mustang’s eyes but staring at some spot just left of the body. His fist clenched as he continued, “She was fine when we dragged Tucker out, but when we got back she was like this. We couldn’t think of what else to do, I mean it’s not like me and Al can deal with a mad scientist who transmutes human chimeras on our own. We... just figured you’d be able to do something about this.”

“You were right to call me for this Fullmetal,” Mustang assured him in a low voice, placing a hand on Edwards shoulder. “Don’t worry about Tucker either; he’s not going to get away with this. He will face the consequences for what he’s done.”

Edward nodded wordlessly.

“In the mean time you and your brother should probably get back to wherever it is that you’re staying,” he said briskly, “you shouldn’t stay in this house, especially knowing what’s happened to the people who lived here.”

“Right, yeah. We’ll get going once we know Tucker’s in custody.” Edward seemed to be in a bit of a daze, as though the magnitude of what had happened was finally starting to hit him.

They walked back to the front of the house, only stopping so that Edward could return the alchemically sealed wall into the door it had formerly been. The scientist within was surely a lost cause, Ed didn’t linger and made for his sibling’s side.

Mustang sent a call to Eastern Command and explained what had been found and how the military would need to proceed based on what had been uncovered. When reinforcements arrived, the brothers posted themselves quietly outside the house and watched as Military guards were set at each entrance and exit to the Tucker house. Though an open window, they could all faintly hear the man inside raving about how he hadn’t meant to kill little Nina but that he had needed to use her in the chimera or it wouldn’t be able to speak.

Seeing that things were going to be handled, Edward and Alphonse made off for their hotel with the intent of checking on their precious cargo.

Once they had gone, a scar faced figure got into the home and sent Shou Tucker to his grave.

Upon reaching their hotel, Alphonse and Edward were quick to unscrew the chest piece and check on Nina. Her body seemed too still as it lay on the makeshift bed Ed had made her.

“Nina?” Ed called, feeling a sense of dread building within him.

“Hey, Nina,” Alphonse tried, “we don’t have to be as quiet now. No more game for now.”

No response.

They tried harder, even going so far as to nudge and pat her but it all seemed to no avail. But just as they began to fear the worst, there came a light snore from her dog-like form. She was asleep.

With a collective relieved breath, they carefully moved her onto the spare bed. Having the girl settled and safe, Ed decided to try and join her in sleep. Alphonse unfurled a blanket over both and sat against the wall to watch over the two.

Edward awoke early the next morning with a start; his nightmares had returned, but now it seemed that little Nina had become a part of them as well. He had never felt so powerless. A wet nose tapped his flesh arm suddenly, making him flinch.

“No be sad big bro-ther!” Nina demanded, her front paws on the bed lifting her into a sort of upright position.

It was easy for Edward to see that the little girl seemed to be doing better now that she was out of her old home and away from her father, and knowing this gave him some measure of relief. Edward pulled Nina up onto the bed with him and hugged her close. He used her presence to ground himself and remember that she now depended on him, like Alphonse, and he could not fail this new mission.

Ed pulled away and spoke softly to her, “Don’t worry Nina it was just a nightmare. Do you think you can stay here and play quietly with your new dolly while Al and I go to work? We have to go today so we can make sure everything’s ready so we can take you to Resembool.” He observed her a bit cautiously, “You’ll be here by yourself for a little while and we’ll leave you some food, but you have to promise you’ll be good while we’re gone, okay?”

“I pro-mise I be good big bro-ther Ed,” Nina nodded as seriously as she could with her tail wagging happily behind her.

“Good girl,” Edward grinned, thankful that Nina was making this as easy as she was. In the beginning, he had been afraid she would fight them and make things challenging. However, Nina seemed more than happy to just follow along with whatever they asked of her.

Upon arriving at Eastern Command, the brothers met with Lieutenant Hawkeye and inquired about the progress of Shou Tucker’s trial.

“He was scheduled to be stripped of his certification and tried for his crimes, but now that simply isn’t possible.” She paused and averted her gaze momentarily. “He was found dead this morning,” the Lieutenant admitted with some reluctance. “You’d probably find out eventually anyways, so I’m going to tell you this as well; he’s been murdered.”

“What?!” Alphonse gasped.

“How? By who?” were Ed’s sharp demands, his brow furrowed with anger, “He was supposed to face the consequences of what he’d done!”

“We don’t know. I was actually on my way over to the scene just now.” the Lieutenant informed them.

“We’re coming with you,” Al declared.

“You boys don’t need to see this,” Hawkeye said sternly. It was a solemn attempt to spare the boys from the horrors she knew all too well.

“We were the ones who made the call about Tucker in the first place Lieutenant,” Edward told her. “If anyone deserves to know what’s going on, it’s us. We wanted that bastard tried so there could be a precedent that keeps it from happening again.” He looked down, “We also want justice for Nina. We need to know why someone would do this so we can try and prevent it.”

“I see,” Hawkeye clenched her fists into her coats collar, perhaps more harshly than necessary, as she pulled it on. “Unfortunately this doesn’t change the fact that currently I don’t have anything further that I can tell you. I promise this though, when I do find out more I’ll let you know. Even if it only serves to give you closure, after everything you two deserve at least that much.”

Riza stopped on her way out and turned back to the boys, “I only agreed for your peace of mind, so please do me the same courtesy and stay away from the Tucker house. I’ll tell you what I find out when I get back.”

The boys nodded in unison, both appeased in knowing she would give them the details when they saw her next.

They wandered out into the rain, the dreary weather matching their somber moods, finally resting beneath the stone clock tower in the center of one of the rooftop pavilions of the Eastern Command building. The brothers sat, quietly contemplating this horrific turn of events for a time.

Finally, Edward spoke. “We place all our trust in alchemy, but in the end what is it? Alchemy is the science of understanding the flow of matter and its laws, the process of comprehension, deconstruction and reconstruction. The world flows to it must also follow laws, everything circulates, even death is a part of that circulation and you must accept the flow. Teacher sure droned that into our heads didn’t she?”

“Yeah,” Alphonse agreed, not entirely sure where his brother was going with his monologue. Yet he was painfully aware that it was something Edward needed to say to help deal with the recent events they had borne witness to.

“I thought I understood it,” Edward continued, “but I didn’t understand anything, mom proved that. Now here I am again trying desperately to figure out a way to do the impossible. I’m such a hopeless idiot, all this time and I haven’t grown up one bit.”

“No,” Alphonse declared, determined, “it’s not hopeless and not impossible! Things are different this time. We’re not trying to bring back the dead, just trying to give a little girl back her proper shape. We’re not even really trying to separate them, we’re just trying to give her a form she can exist peacefully in.” He glared to his older sibling, “And stop talking like it’s all your fault! I’m just as much to blame as you are. I could have convinced you to stop at any time but I didn’t! I wanted to just as much as you did. We won’t fail this time, even if it means we’re trying to do the impossible and go against the flow of the world. We’re going to get my body back and Nina’s too!”

Edward stared at him for a moment before offering a small smirk, “Thanks Al, I’m glad you have my back.”

The boys lapsed back into silence, unsure of what to do but wait for the information they needed. A strange man who was wearing sunglasses and had a large x shaped scar on his face approached them.

The man looked at Edward and asked, “You boy - you’re the Fullmetal Alchemist Edward Elric, correct?"

Edward looked up and the man went to strike him but he was not quick enough. With a shout, Alphonse yanked his brother out of the way. Quickly regaining his senses, Edward transmuted the ground to form a wall around his attacker.

“What’s going on here?” Edward demanded.

The scar faced man did not respond, he simply destroyed the wall Edward had put between them and continued towards the brothers. Who is this guy? What the hell does he want? Edward mentally wondered. As he began to grasp the gravity of the situation he realized he needed to move, and move quickly.

“Let’s go Al! Run for it!” Edward shouted as he finally began to move in an effort to evade his attacker. It was of little use however, the scar faced man jumped from the rooftop pavilion to the stairs the boys had fled to, successfully blocking their path. He quickly decimated the stairs between himself and the brothers and this very nearly sent Edward tumbling to his death; it was only luck and quick reflexes that allowed Alphonse to grab hold of the ledge where the stair had once been and then his brother’s leg.

Their adversary was not easily deterred; he placed his hand on the wall beside him and used his strange destructive abilities to destroy what was left of those upper stairs. With the ledge holding up gone the brothers tumbled to the stairs below them.

As their attacker approached them, Edward warned Alphonse to hang on as he attempted to alchemically create an escape route by taking the stone of the stairs and turning it to a pillar under them. He built it up and away from the scar faced man, but he was once again thwarted. As he stalked down the stairs to continue the hunt, the brothers managed to land in the street below, Alphonse with more grace than Edward. As soon as they had landed, they were off and running again.

“Dammit!” Edward cursed furiously, “What the fuck is this guy’s problem? I’ve never really avoided making enemies, but still isn’t a reason for there to be someone trying to kill me right now!”

The boys turned into an alley, perhaps hoping to come out on the other side and lose their pursuer, but yet again he destroyed their escape route.

Enraged Edward questioned the man, “Who the hell are you anyway!? Why are you after us?”

“In this world, as long as there are creators like you, then there must also be destroyers such as I.“ The man finally spoke.

“It’s looking like we’re going to have to fight then, huh?” Edward conceded with irritation. He clapped his hands, changing a broken pipe from the rubble behind him into a long knife. Now armed, the Elric duo took a proper fighting stance.

The scar faced man grinned at their display. “You two are gutsy ones, aren’t you?”

Simultaneously, both Edward and Alphonse lunged at their attacker, but Alphonse was too slow; the man blew out his left side and he fell to the ground. His face was shocked to see there was nothing inside the boy’s armor.

With a roar, Edward ran forward, trying to get at him with the knife. The man was unfazed as he grabbed his arm and attempted to destroy it, but was again surprised to find his attack did nothing. He threw Edward into the street wondering why his attack was ineffective.

Edward cursed and removed his coat, revealing his automail arm.

“I see, you have an automail arm, then that explains why my attack didn’t do the damage I expected, most unusual.” The scarred assailant realized and walked forward.

Edward clapped once more, this time transmuting his own arm into a blade.

“Brother don’t!” Alphonse cried, “Please just run away!”

“You’re an idiot! I’m not going to just leave you behind like that Al!” Edward admonished, “And if the only way to get you out of here is to kick this guy’s ass, then that’s what I’m going to do!”

“I see now, to preform transmutation you press your hands together and create a ring,” the scar faced attacker realized aloud but was ultimately ignored as Edward rushed at him once more. Before Edward’s attack had the chance to connect, the man grabbed him by the arm. “It appears that I will have to start by destroying this abhorrent right arm of yours, then.”

The scar faced man placed a hand at Edwards shoulder and destroyed the arm, the force throwing him back and ultimately rendering him incapable of preforming alchemy without a circle.

Alphonse screamed helplessly for his brother.

“Now you will not be able to use your heretics’ alchemy” his assailant stated evenly. “I’ll give you a moment to pray to God.”

Edward gasped and tried to scramble back as his attacker walked past the broken automail pieces littering the ground and towards him.

“BROTHER RUN!”

_No_ , Edward thought desperately. His thoughts were a mess of all the things he still had to do – he wasn’t ready to die yet. His hand slipped on the wet ground, incapable of giving him the traction he needed to lift himself up so he could flee as he finally tried to obey his brother’s frightened pleas. The terrified thoughts kept ringing in his head, he still needed to get Alphonse his body back, to turn Nina human again or at least as close as possible - he couldn’t do that if he died here.

None of that mattered though, he was simply unable to gain the traction he needed and he slipped once more as he scuttled backwards. This time, he fell to his right side and laid there in a momentary daze.

Desperate for some way to stave off his demise, Edward spoke, “Unfortunately there isn’t any god I’d like to pray to, they’ve never done me any good. Am I the only one you’re trying to kill today? Or are you going after my brother Al too?”

The man paused to responded, “Should he interfere or should you attempt to abandon this battle, I will be forced to eliminate him as well. But, Fullmetal Alchemist, it is you alone who is receiving judgement today.”

“Good to know,” Edward responded lifting himself up and managing to scoot a little further back. He looked back to his brother, “Al, don’t interfere. If anything happens to me you know what you need to do.”

And then, quick as he could, Edward pushed himself up on his remaining arm and lashed out with his automail leg at the man who was reaching for his head, managing to land a solid sounding kick to his attackers arm. Unfortunately it did little good; the scar faced man grabbed the leg, this time already knowing what to do to incapacitate it. The automail leg shattered into uneven pieces on the ground. He reached for Edward’s head once more.

“NO! Please stop!” Alphonse screamed, trying to move himself forward.

A shot rang out.

“That’s enough,” Colonel Mustang declared, “you won’t be killing anyone else today _Scar_. I’ll be taking you into custody, where you’ll answer for the murder of at least ten State Alchemists.”

“Alchemists alter things from their natural form, perverting them to something else, something grotesque. They profane god, the true creator of all things. As an agent of god I am here to hand down his judgement. If you interfere I will eliminate you as well.”

Mustang smirked and handed his gun back to Hawkeye, “Is that so? You lot stay out of this. I’ll handle it.”

“Colonel Mustang, Sir!” Hawkeye tried to protest.

“Colonel Mustang? So this is the Flame Alchemist who volunteers himself to receive judgement. This is truly an auspicious day!” Scar declared as he stepped over Edward and charged at Mustang.

Mustang snapped his fingers with gusto, though it only managed a small puff of steam.

Hawkeye slid to the rescue, knocking Mustang to the ground just in time to keep Scar’s attack from connecting and began to shoot. Easily ignoring the Colonel’s indignation, she fired off several shots at Scar. “You’re useless in rain, sir,” she called pointedly, “please stand back!”

“It is fortunate that you cannot produce your blasphemous flames, State Alchemist,” Scar said with a scowl, “For I will destroy all who interfere with my mission right here and now!”

“I’d like to see you try it!” Major Armstrong bellowed, swinging down towards his target. Scar jumped out of the way and managed to avoid Armstrong’s attack.

“You have to be quick to avoid my fists, not bad.” Armstrong granted him as he pulled his hand from the ground, “Not bad at all. You said you were going to destroy us all? Then why don’t you start by defeating me!”

Two military members ran to collect Edward as new arrival distracted Scar, pulling him away from the battle.

“We’ll see how you fare against the Strong Arm Alchemist - Alex Louis Armstrong!” The colossal blonde challenged.

“Yet another State Alchemist,” Scar observed, “God is putting them in my path for me.”

“Not backing down? In that case your courage will earn you a demonstration. BEHOLD THE ART OF ALCHEMY THAT HAS BEEN PASSED DOWN THE ARMSTRONG FAMILY FOR GENERATIONS!” Armstrong practically roared as he alchemically transformed a chunk of debris into a stone spike and sent it hurtling towards Scar.

“Who is he?” Edward questioned once Havoc and the military policeman had gotten him out of the field of battle.

“That’s the same man who murdered Mr. Tucker.” Havoc supplied grimly.

“What?” Edward jerked, looking back to the battle in shock. Major Armstrong sent volley after volley of alchemic stone spikes at Scar, some through the air and some bursting up from the ground.

“WATCH IT MAJOR WE DON’T NEED YOU DESTROYING THE CITY!” Havoc hollered trying to get the bulky man to rein in his more destructive tendencies.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN?! DESTRUCTION AND CREATION ARE TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN, YOU MUST DESTROY TO CREATE! THIS IS THE LAW OF THE UNIVERSE!” Armstrong bellowed out, his shirt seeming to disintegrate as he spoke.

“Did he honestly have to strip?” Hawkeye asked, sounding more than a little exasperated.

Havoc sighed, “Can’t you tell? He’s obviously insane; I’m honestly not even surprised.”

“I- did anyone else see his shirt _disappear and turn into sparkles?_ How’d that even _happen?_ That can’t be physically possible.” Edward, who was perhaps a bit concussed, wondered aloud.

Armstrong huffed, “Non-alchemists may fail to understand that statement but we understand don’t we, Scar?”

Edwards head jerked up in sudden realization, “That’s it! That explains it. The three steps of the transmutation process are construction, deconstruction and reconstruction. He must stop just before the reconstruction phase.”

“So this killer is an alchemist too,” Mustang realized. “But why is he targeting Alchemists with State certifications? It still doesn’t make sense.”

Armstrong lunged back into battle, alchemizing stone spikes towards Scar, though they never connected. Scar destroyed each of them as fast as they came. The Strong Arm alchemist was undeterred, letting his fists fly while Scar only just managed to avoid the attacks. It was a tactic that was backing the man into a corner.

Just as Scar had finally managed to figure out the best time to strike his opponent, the experienced Major jumped back, allowing Lieutenant Hawkeye room to shoot at him. Quick as ever, Scar dodged nearly all the bullets. Only that made contact, though it merely grazed him and shattered his sunglasses. They fell away to reveal blood colored eyes.

The significance of this man’s heritage did not go unrealized to the majority of ranking military members present. Ishvalans, more than anyone else, would hold hatred for State Alchemists; not just for how they harnessed the science which defied their god, but for the massacres of the Ishvalan Civil War.

Scar, realizing how deeply outnumbered he was, destroyed the ground below him and disappeared into the sewers with the smoke and rubble from the blast masking his escape.

With the danger finally passed, Edward snagged the makeshift crutch he had been given and hobbled over to his brother as fast as he could. “Alphonse! Al are you okay?”

Armstrong and Havoc voiced their confusion at Alphonse’s state of being in the background, but Edward didn’t notice, too concerned for his brother for their questions to register. When he finally reached his brother, he was forcefully knocked back by a solid punch to his cheek.

“YOU IDIOT! I TOLD YOU TO RUN, NOT LIE DOWN AND LET YOURSELF GET KILLED!” Alphonse yelled at him in a fury.

“I DIDN’T JUST LAY DOWN AND WAIT FOR DEATH YOU MORON! AND BESIDES YOU HEARD HIM! IF I HAD RUN HE WOULD HAVE GONE AFTER YOU INSTEAD!” Edward retaliated.

Alphonse snatched Edwards’s shirt and pulled him close. “Surviving is the only way, brother. You can’t die. You have to live on and study alchemy to find a way to get our bodies back, so as to help people like Nina. _You can’t die; I won’t let you die a meaningless death!_ ”

The arm Alphonse was using to hold Edward in placed gave out under the strain, falling to the ground in a loud heap.

“THAT’S JUST GREAT!” Alphonse hollered, “Now my arm’s fallen off because my brothers a big fat idiot who had to be reminded that he’s not allowed to die yet!”

Edward let out a short, strained little laugh. “Looks like we’re falling apart, huh Al? Almost like we belong in some kind of junk heap.”

“But we’re alive, right?” Alphonse said in a small voice, betraying his true age. “Isn’t that what matters?”

“Yeah,” Edward agreed, “I guess it is.”

 

 

 

“So I got a dummy leg from the military automail mechanic here in Eastern command while they were checking you over at the hospital, he offered to make a proper one for you but I told him you already had a mechanic and that you would prefer to stick with her.” Mustang rambled as he awkwardly carried a box with Alphonse and all his broken pieces in it up to the brothers’ hotel room.

“Yeah, great,” Edward nodded absentmindedly as he hobbled along, leaning heavily on his crutch.

“The mechanic assured me that you would be able to put it on by yourself, so you don’t need to worry about that too much. Hawkeye already went ahead and got you boys train tickets for first thing tomorrow and arranged for Armstrong to escort you. Hopefully this way you’ll be able to transport Al without too much trouble. Oh! And we put all of the pieces of Alphonse’s armor that we could find into a bag, it’s in the box here with him.” The Colonel continued, almost as if he hadn’t even heard Edward speak.

The strange little group finally arrived at the brothers’ hotel room and Edward finally managed to pull himself out of his stupor as Mustang went to unlock the door.

“So okay, your helps been great and all but you can just set Al and his box down here and I can deal with the rest of it on my own!” Edward said with what was clearly false optimism.

“Don’t be an idiot, Fullmetal. Maybe I’d believe that if you were only down one limb but as it is? There’s no way in hell you can get everything sorted.” Mustang said as he opened the door. He stopped dead in his tracks upon seeing a creature – no a chimera – that was sitting on the bed, contently nosing at a doll.

A chimera that looked all too much like the one that had been the result of Shou Tucker’s experiments; the one Edward had said was dead; the one who’s corpse he had seen. It looked up at their entrance.

“Who you?” it asked in an eerie warbled tone.

It was at that moment that Edward braced his crutch at an angle and used its leverage to help him to bodily slam Mustang into the room, where the man landed face first on the floor. Edward then scrambled up and locked the door and turned towards Mustang.

“WE CAN EXPLAIN!” Alphonse shrieked, while at the same time Edward said, “We’re not letting you out until you swear to keep your mouth shut!”

Mustang sat up but did not leave his spot on the floor. His fixed gaze on the chimera shifted to glare at Edward. “Yes, I need a pretty damn good explanation as to why there is a supposedly dead chimera girl in your hotel room.” His words were dripping with seriousness yet held a sarcastic edge.

Alphonse looked to his brother and Edward took a deep breath.

“Okay first things first, Nina this is Colonel Mustang, Colonel Mustang, this is Nina Tucker.” Alphonse introduced, with Edward gesturing to each of them in turn for him.

“Hel-lo!” Nina barked at Mustang with a smile.

“Ah, hello Miss Nina, it’s very nice to meet you.” Mustang said a bit awkwardly, but still politely giving her a little wave. It was intriguing how she smiled and ducked her head when called ‘Miss Nina’, it seemed she retained quite a bit of her humanity. He turned back to the brothers and silently prompted them to explain with a narrowed gaze.

“Brother, I think you should explain it.” Alphonse whispered, clearly intimidated.

“Okay, so long horrifying story cut short,” Edward began, “Al and I decided we couldn’t let the military get ahold of Nina and turn her into some kind of experiment subject. So we used one of Tuckers spare chimaeras, and the chemical components of a human body to make a fake that looked like her. Then we smuggled her out. We’re going to find a way to fix her. Hopefully with the same method we’ll use to get our bodies back.”

Mustang was quiet for a moment, parsing the information. He used the momentary silence to decide which of his questions to voice. “How exactly did you manage to smuggle Miss Nina out without the military noticing?”

Edward paused for a long moment, a proud grin overtaking his face. “You saw the shelf thing inside Al’s armor when you helped get him into the box right?” He waited for Mustang to nod before he continued, “Well that shelf is only there because we needed a way to carry Nina without having her get banged around too much. We made it so we could get Nina inside Al’s chest cavity and carry her out that way.”

“That’s… that’s actually rather ingenious of you, Fullmetal.” Mustang admitted.

“Uh, Colonel Mustang?” Alphonse asked nervously, “Do you think you could keep this a secret? We really don’t want to worry about some crazy military scientist getting ahold of Nina.”

“You boys don’t need to worry,” Mustang assured them easily. “I’ll gladly help you hide Miss Nina. If you’d like, I can come by tomorrow morning before Armstrong arrives to collect you and help you hide her in Alphonse’s crate for your trip to Resembool.” He paused and gave them a look, “You are taking her to Resombool, correct?”

Edward nodded, “Yeah, the plan is to have her hide out there while we look for a way to fix her. Then introduce her as Al and I’s long lost little sister or something.”

The raven haired male raised a quizzical brow at him in response, “Alright then…” Mustang stood and headed for the door, “I’ll be back early tomorrow morning to help you get her situated for the trip. Until then, I have other things to arrange for your absence.”

Before he left, Mustang turned back to them, “This thing you’re doing here - helping her… It’s the right thing to do. She’s a very lucky girl to have brothers like you looking out for her.”

With that Mustang was gone, leaving the Edward with a twisting in his gut. He shook his head in a vague attempt to clear his thoughts and moved to attach the dummy leg. He had some things to sort out before the morning came.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there are a couple of reasons this took so long, first is because it’s twice as long as the first chapter apparently. Second is that this chapter (and quite possibly the entire fic) is cursed and my beta's edit of this chapter disappeared or glitched into nothingness no less than 3 times  
> Also I just kind of skipped Mustangs whole ‘Ishvalan War’ speech because I couldn’t get it to mesh with everything else, it still happened we just don’t get to see it


End file.
